Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““All they have shown is that he had an opportunity to have shot and killed Dean Polk, but they don’t have strong enough evidence to go to the jury, and I cite to you the case of Lang versus State, where they are talking about circumstantial evidence. And in that case, the Court held that the humane provisions of the Law, or a person charged with a felony, should not be convicted on circumstantial evidence unless it shows by full measure of the proof that the Defendant is guilty. Such proof is always insufficient unless it excludes to a moral certainty every other reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt of the accused. That is, the burden is on the State to show that Thomas Harris and he alone killed Dean Polk, and to exclude that any other person could have killed her...””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 395 So. 2d 1063 - Harris v. State

2. ““No matter how strong the circumstances, if they can be reconciled with the theory that some other person may have done the act, then the defendant is not shown to be guilty, by that full measure of proof which the law requires.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 395 So. 2d 1063 - Harris v. State

3. “There being no dispute about the facts, we may go to the [full] record for a more complete understanding of those features treated in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Wilbanks v. State